Mayor of Roscommon Launches SiarScéal Festival and Anthology

Mayor of Roscommon Launches SiarScéal Festival

On behalf of the members of Roscommon County Council, I am delighted to officiate at this prestigious SiarScéal Festival and Productions here this morning in the County Library Roscommon. This festival is now into its 6th year and it is wonderful opportunity and occasion for all involved to come together in a cultural and learning environment.

The SiarScéal collaborative is a historical, literary, bilingual festival hosted annually in County Roscommon, inspired by the culture and heritage of the county's environs, river and lakes, most notable of which are the Suck and the Shannon.

SiarScéal creates a space where each community living in and around the region can celebrate their town-land and environs through the medium of poetry, art, photography and social history. The SiarScéal Festival’s themed exhibitions, productions, and the Hanna Greally Literary Awards Competition are now an integral part of the programme and I would like to congratulate all for their entries from both the national and local level.

Participating schools and groups return annually to take an active part in the Festival’s proceedings and workshops. SiarScéal has produced to-date a Choral Cd, SiarScéal Festival Collection 08 and the Home Place in Translation in conjunction with the Irish Wheelchair Association.

This year we are proud to be associated and involved with Roscommon in Reflection, SiarScéal Anthology 2012 publication which I will launch today. This production is a living testimony and representation of the lives and history of the people of Roscommon and National writers through the medium of poetry, prose and short stories illustrated by Glinsk Artist Tom Barlow.

In his Foreword to this anthology, well-known poet, playwright, novelist, Dermot Bolger says:

"This is a book that emanates from Roscommon and resonates with the landscape and varied stories of Roscommon, but, like all good writing, it slips free of all boundaries and borders to speak directly to the human heart about the human condition."

SiarScéal is the ShannonSide Northern Sound overall Arts and Entertainment Award Winning Festival for the Shannonside region for 2010, and this honour can be contributed to the support and funding of Roscommon County Council: Library Services and SiarScéal Founder Gwen Bond. SiarScéal is sponsored also by Poetry Ireland and the Lions Club.

I would like to extend a special thanks to the SiarScéal Team: Abbey Music Director Sean Hanily, Ger Corr, and, Mary Conry Candler, in association with An Cruachán Aí, U.C.G. Orchestra, and all collaborating community groups, writers, schools, nationally and locally which continually take part in the SiarScéal annual events. I wish you all an enjoyable day.